The birth of scientific bacteriology
during the 19th century provided the
scientific and technical basis for
modern
biological
weapons
programs. Germany started the first
known scientific, state-sponsored
biological weapons program during
World War I. The German bio
warfare program of World War I is of
special interest for several reasons: it
was the first national offensive
program, the first program to have a
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The
first
recoded
weaponize
biological agent in North America
occurred during the French and
Indian Wars (1754 to 1767).
The
agent
was
smallpox and the
method
of
delivery was
blankets not
bombs. Sir
Jeffrey
Amherst
who was
the
commander
of
British
forces in North
America
formulated a plan to
reduce,
as
he so
clinically expressed it, the size of
the Native American tribes that were
hostile to the crown.
scientific foundation, and the first
confirmed instance of actual wartime
use of biological agents. The German
program was a large-scale (strategic)
biological attack, which targeted
neutrals rather than belligerents and
targeted crops and animals as
opposed to humans. It
is impossible to
determine the
effectiveness
of
this
program;
although
the
German
operatives
involved
thought
it
was a success,
no documentary
evidence
supports
this conclusion.
On the other side little known and yet
remarkable in its scope is Japan's
biological warfare program during
World War II. Probably, the most
extensive
and
most
horrific
biological weapons research and
deployment occurred in Manchuria
from 1932 until the end of the war.
This program, innocuously entitled as
Unit 731 was located in Pingfan,
Manchuria. Under the direction of
Dr. Shiro Ishii from 1932 to 1942
and then Kitano Misaji from 1942
until 1945, Unit 731 employed a staff
of over 3,000 scientists and
technicians. Unit 731 sprawled over
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Death, was spreading from the Far
East and reached the Crimea in 1346.